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Great Salt Lake is bleak yet beautiful, mysterious and alluring, an endangered “dead sea” vital to life. Explorer Jedediah Smith, surrounded by a vast wilderness, realized this felt to him like home. Conservationist John Muir found in the briny waters a sublime baptism and came out, in his words, salted and clean as a saint. Nineteenth-century Utahns built the first resorts, such as Saltair; bathed and floated in the water; and began extracting valuable salts and minerals from the ever-fluctuating lake. Ringed with wildlife refuges, it is a haven for migrating birds. With multiple state parks, Antelope Island among them, Great Salt Lake is today a magnet for sight-seeing, swimming, hiking, biking, horse riding, and sailing—just a few of the ways to experience what pioneer-era surveyor Howard Stansbury described as a “great and peculiar beauty.”

In the spring of 1916, Ruby and Minnie Syrett packed up their children and belongings and traveled to their new homestead at the gateway of what would one day become Bryce Canyon National Park. In the early 20th century, Southern Utah was still pioneer country. Hardy descendants of Mormon converts worked to tame the land and create productive farms. Little time was left to marvel at the scenery that surrounded their small communities. By 1919, the Syretts found themselves providing food and lodging for visitors who had learned of the canyon's scenic wonder. A tourist lodge was constructed and opened in the spring of 1920. By 1923, Bryce's Canyon was well known throughout the country and was proclaimed a national monument. From the beginning, Ruby and Minnie were committed to providing the very best in heartfelt Western hospitality. This small community continues to provide the facilities and amenities required to take care of the 1.5 million annual visitors from around the world who come to enjoy Bryce Canyon National Park.